Gresham mayor joins rising voices against butte tower

This rendering by Cushing Civil Engineers shows what the emergency communications tower proposed by the Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications would look like on Gresham Butte. The 180-foot tower would rise about 60 feet above the tree tops and be visible from lower-elevation neighborhoods on three sides of the hill.
COURTESY OF CITY OF PORTLAND

Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis has publicly joined growing opposition to a 180-foot emergency communication tower that a Portland agency plans to erect on Gresham Butte.

In a letter last week, he asked Portland Mayor Charlie Hales to "help us avoid substantial aesthetic blight" by directing Portland's Bureau of Emergency Communications to withdraw its current plan. He asked the agency to work with Gresham city employees and residents "to find a solution that both facilitates vital emergency communications, and protects our natural areas."

The 840-foot Gresham Butte, also known as Walters Hill, rises south of downtown Gresham and City Hall, and its forested flanks are visible from much of this city of 107,000 people. In his letter, Bemis described the buttes as "a source of great pride in the community, and our residents have been very supportive of efforts to protect these treasured landmarks from unsightly development."

As of Friday afternoon, Bemis said he had not yet spoken directly to Hales about his concerns with the tower. Both Bemis and Hales' spokesman, Dana Haynes, expect the mayors to talk, and Bemis is confident a solution will be found.

"I do know this community will absolutely not stand for that tower," Bemis said.

The proposed lattice radio tower, estimated to cost $655,953, would help eliminate current communication dead zones caused by eastern Multnomah County's hilly geography.

Such improvements have the potential to save lives, but some Gresham residents wonder whether that goal can be achieved without marring their landscape. At least some residents, although not Bemis, view the tower project as another slight in a perceived pattern of Portland passing less-desirable aspects of urban life to its smaller neighbors.

"Does it really have to (be) this huge tower?" said Carol Rulla, president of the Coalition of Gresham Neighborhood Associations. "Yes, there is a feeling that Gresham kind of gets what Portland pushes on us."

Bemis said he doesn't see the tower issue as a case of Portland pushing something undesirable on one of its smaller neighbors because the tower's location is central to its mission. However, he understands -- and sometimes openly shares - a common sentiment that Portland makes decisions without weighing the effects on other communities.

In Gresham at least, Portland's better-staffed police force is widely considered a reason for elevated crime levels in some Gresham neighborhoods. And, more recently, Bemis said Portland's leaders made the decision to fluoridate its water supply (now pending the outcome of the May 21 election) without consulting Gresham, despite the fact that Gresham buys its water from Portland.

Rulla and others would lump the tower in a similar category.

"It's just because Portland is so big and Portland doesn't have to worry about us," she said. "It feels like Portland gets a lot of attention, and it feels like east county gets a lot less."

Mads Ledet, president of the Gresham Butte Neighborhood Association, whose area surrounds the butte, said, "There's a lot of interest (in the tower), more interest than I've seen in any other planning project that's come through here."

The Portland bureau plans to build the tower and an accompanying 2,400-square-foot equipment storage building on private property it already owns on Southwest Blaine Court, which is on the southeast slope of Gresham Butte. The property would be fenced. It backs up to protected open space that Gresham owns.

The new tower, which would use digital technology, would stand about 60 feet above the tops of trees and be visible from lower-elevation neighborhoods on three sides of the hill, according to a visual impact study Cushing Civil Engineers produced for Portland. The tower would replace a much smaller communications pole and maintenance building that Ledet said is invisible to most residents.

The proposed butte tower is one of 15 radio sites that make up the City of Portland Public Safety Radio System, which is used by emergency responders throughout Multnomah County, including Gresham.

Portland officials have consulted city staff and shared plans at a Gresham Butte Neighborhood Association meeting, but Bemis believes the project deserves more visibility.

Ledet and Rulla were pleased that Bemis weighed in with his letter, as was Shirley Craddick, a former Gresham City Council member who now serves on the Metro Council and has worked to preserve the buttes and other natural areas in both roles.

"I agree with Mayor Bemis' letter," said Craddick, speaking as a Gresham resident because Metro is not involved in the tower issue. "I would hate to see that vista taken away by a tower that's going to stick up over the trees."

Ledet and Rulla also are talking with Gresham city staff to see whether the tower proposal could be required to go through a public hearings process. It's a path not normally required for communication projects like this but one that the city could instigate, they said. That process could encourage communication and cooperation in reaching a more palatable solution, which Ledet suggests might involve using several less visible towers.

"That's part of the question that people have," Rulla agreed, "is what are the other options?"